Monday, Monday...

Apologies for the delayed post.

I don't remember much about Friday morning and early afternoon; between the general anesthetic and the epidural, I was pretty out of it until Friday evening, when I was able to join Doc, Olive and Kevin for dinner. While I didn't have much appetite, I was feeling well enough to suggest a Bridge game later that evening. Ahhhhh, the road to hell may be completely paved with my good intentions before all of this is over... I went downstairs promptly fell asleep *sighs* Thanks, folks, for being so understanding.

Saturday morning I still felt pretty good, considering, and was able to spend some time chatting and birdwatching with Doc and Olive. And, what a bird morning it was! While we've seen oriels cruising through da Woods the past three years, none have stopped to enjoy the oranges we'd put out for them. This Saturday we had two of them around most of the morning! Can't tell you how terrific they looked with the four indigo buntings, six grossbeaks, and more than twenty blue jays that showed up that day as well.

I couldn't believe how good I felt all afternoon so I didn't feel the need to take any pain killers -- until early evening when I doubled up with a pain that was horribly reminiscent of the pain that took me to the doctor's office on March 8th. For a while we thought we'd need to make a trip to the emergency room, but the meds kicked in enough to make the pain tolerable; didn't do much to ameliorate how stupid I felt as "Don't let the pain get ahead of the medication" rang in my ears *thwaps self*

I was able to sleep some Saturday night, but by Sunday it was clear that I had been feeling good because the anesthesia was still in my system, and that all of the walking around, stair climbing and deep breathing that I could do was only possible because I was still numb -- apparently mentally as well as physically *sighs* What I was feeling the night before was the pain of the mediastinoscopy exacerbated by my well intended exercise. *sets another paver in the road*

By Sunday afternoon it became clear that I will probably put more of a dent in the bottle of meds they gave me than I originally thought I would. Sunday evening the Ted Koppel special, "Living With Cancer," aired on the Discovery Channel. As I drifted in and out of sleep all day, we decided we should tape the show -- a very good idea! (If any of you would be interested in seeing it, we'll save the tape.)

I managed to watch most of the show this morning while we were waiting to hear from...someone...we weren't sure who. We were told that we would have a follow-up appointment with the surgeon on May 17th, and that we would be referred to both radiology and chemotherapy to deal with the cancer found in the lymph nodes, but nothing more specific than that. Kevin and I are uncomfortable with no information, direction, or plan, so we've been somewhat on edge all weekend.

The nurse from Rehab, let's call her Nancy, called this morning -- just to see how I was doing. I understand that she came down to check on me immediately following the surgery on Friday, as well. What a caring, conscientious group of medical professionals! She cautioned me to slow down, to follow the course of meds I was given, and to plan to sleep as much as I can. I won't be allowed back until I'm pain and med free...

This afternoon we heard: Wednesday afternoon we meet with chemotherapy, Friday we meet with radiology. We'll also have the incision wound looked at on Wednesday, instead of waiting until 5/17. The wound is a bit swollen, but seems to be healing well *crosses fingers*

In the meantime, we are trying to learn more about Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA) and where it might be offered near us. It's the new technology that was used to literally burn out two tumors in Leroy Sievers, the focus of the Ted Koppel show last night, who has been blogging about his cancer on the NPR website since February 2006. He is currently tumor free, but doesn't feel that he'll ever be cancer free...

Closer to home, our SisterFriend, Nancy, will be here tomorrow. We're looking forward to having her and grateful that she's taking the time.

Lastly, today I learned that our good friend Bob, a looooooooong time smoker, has also stopped smoking. ...he knows how long I've been waiting to hear that; you're in our thoughts, Mister!

So now you know as much as we do. What do you know??